Classic Modules Today: N1 Against the Cult of the Reptile God (5e)

In 1982, TSR published the module named “Against the Cult of the Reptile God” with the module code “N1”. It was written by Douglas Niles and published as a 28-page booklet. The module provides a town as a home base for adventure as had been previously seen in a number of other modules but for the first time introduces a threat within the town itself. In addition it provides a challenging underground adventure and a number of plot suggestions for further adventures in the area should the player characters prove successful.

This conversion guide allows DMs to run the original module with 5th Edition rules and provides a reference sheet for encounters.

This comment is in response to the review by Preston H, since even the creator of a product can only leave a review after purchasing (and I'm not going to purchase my own conversion) I'm responding here.

Hi Preston, and thanks for the thoughtful and very useful review. It's always nice to see someone elses opinion of something one has written.
Regarding your concerns over Explictica Defilus, I must admit I felt the same while doing the conversion. The naga in the 5th edition monster manual is, I believe, much too powerful for a module of this level, and so I was left with the task of bringing her down to a more appropriate level without much information in the original module, which gives a very basic stat block and description. In the original she had only 40 HP (which I found surprisingly low) and so I adjusted that upward to produce a challenge rating I thought would be closer to the mark. I also have no idea what the Nagas' stats are like in the monster manual of the time, since I don't...See more own one!That was why I also included the section "Adjusting Explictica" to provide slightly higher CR's for higher level characters, but after reading your review, and going back to the original and my conversion, I tend to agree that I perhaps did not take this far enough.

Your observation that the lack of a fireball spell may drastically alter the monsters combat strategy is also very valid. The reason I left it out is that it is a third level spell, and since she is only a third level magic user she does not have access to spells above 2nd level, but of course, one could probably simply add the spell (and hope you dont have a rules wizard in your group to complain)! I then asked myself again why I had chosen third level for her - I could swear it was stated somewhere in the original, but going back, I find no reference to it, and the 5E monster manual states the spirit Naga is a 10th level caster! So, long story short, I believe I will update the conversion a bit, and raise her to at least 4th level (with a fireball spell)!

The 5E Naga also has other differences of course. The charm gaze attack is gone from the original, which also significantly weakens her in my opinion, hence the charm person spell I gave her. She has, however, gained rejuvenation, which strictly speaking means the characters cannot destroy her permanently and she will be back in 1 to 6 days. I leave it up to the DM to decide whether that makes up for any other perceived weakness. It certainly adds a lot of potential for future revenge!

Anyway, thanks again for your very kind review, and I hope you find my future conversions just as useful. I am currently working on X6 Quagmire.

Regards
James

Preston HJune 12, 2017 9:38 am UTC

PURCHASER

Oh wow, I wasn't expecting to hear from the product creator! I'm glad to hear you found the review useful; as I said, I find the conversion to be really solid and valuable, and I plan to make use of it next time I run the module.

If you do update the conversion and Explicitica's stat block, I'd definitely be excited to check out the new version, so I can't wait to see! Thank you again for sharing your thoughts and the process behind developing this conversion of the reptile god; it was really neat to read about. I'll keep an eye out for X6 Quagmire and try to remember to check it out.

I have actually already run Against the Cult of the Reptile God for D&D 5e, but this document is nonetheless incredibly useful. It condenses the information of the module down to a few pages, making it very easy to reference quickly. Furth [...]

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